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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Yahoo: Aroldis Chapman’s Pittsburgh hotel room robbed, woman found bound and crying

With the Reds in Pittsburgh to play the Pirates, a robber ransacked Chapman’s hotel room late Tuesday night and tied up a 26-year-old woman inside, leaving her crying for help, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. Two guests heard the woman’s screams.

The guests, who were staying in a room on the same floor, went into the hallway to see what was going on saw the woman inside an open room with her hands bound by cloth napkins, police spokeswoman Diane Richard wrote in a news release.

She did not identify the woman, but said she was from Silver Spring, Md., and was “the hotel guest of a male who attended the Pirates baseball game and who was not present at the time of the incident. During this incident the male guest had various items taken and was later interviewed by detectives,” the news release said.

The woman, who was taken to UPMC Mercy, told police she answered a knock at the door to find a man claiming to be from the hotel’s maintenance department, there to fix a toilet.

Tripon Posted: May 30, 2012 at 04:25 PM | 30 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: don't you know who i am, doom, highway robbery, reds

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1. Walks Clog Up the Bases Posted: May 30, 2012 at 06:40 PM (#4143436)

Pretty lucky for the Reds that Chapman is almost unhittable, because he's compiling a nice list of off-the-field incidents that would make most clubs squeamish.

2. The District Attorney Posted: May 30, 2012 at 06:47 PM (#4143444)

Well, if it was in fact a robber (and the woman would have substantial financial incentive to object if the story were false), then you can't blame Chapman for that.

3. smileyy Posted: May 30, 2012 at 06:51 PM (#4143447)

Unless its a robbery deliberately targetting Chapman due to debts or slights, real or otherwise.

4. Matt Clement of Alexandria Posted: May 30, 2012 at 06:53 PM (#4143449)

That is super weird, awful, and creepy.

I am highly skeptical of the description of events laid out in the story, but that doesn't mean I have any ####### clue what actually happened. Hopefully nothing worse than what's described.

5. DKDC Posted: May 30, 2012 at 07:12 PM (#4143462)

Anyone taking odds on whether she was in on it?

6. Joe Bivens, Minor Genius Posted: May 30, 2012 at 07:19 PM (#4143466)

The woman, who was taken to UPMC Mercy, told police she answered a knock at the door to find a man claiming to be from the hotel’s maintenance department, there to fix a toilet.

It was the third knock. She didn't answer when he said "Candygram" or "Land Shark".

7. Benji Gil Gamesh Rises Posted: May 30, 2012 at 07:33 PM (#4143476)

The "tied up with napkins" seems both too odd to be true and too odd for someone to stage.

8. tshipman

Posted: May 30, 2012 at 08:10 PM (#4143506)

The "tied up with napkins" seems both too odd to be true and too odd for someone to stage.

Cloth napkins are pretty easy to tie someone up with and relatively convenient in a hotel room. Not sure why you find that to be odd?

9. DA Baracus is gritty and hits with RISP Posted: May 30, 2012 at 08:30 PM (#4143531)

Cloth napkins are pretty easy to tie someone up with and relatively convenient in a hotel room.

I don't want to know how you know this.

10. Gonfalon Bubble Posted: May 30, 2012 at 08:37 PM (#4143538)

The oversized napkins are perfect, but the complimentary soaps are way too small for a good old-fashioned soap beating.

11. McCoy Wilfong for Money Posted: May 30, 2012 at 09:12 PM (#4143600)

Not sure why you find that to be odd?

Because it is incredibly hard and virtually impossible to tie someone up with cloth napkins if they are unwilling. Cloth napkins do the trick if the person wants to be tied up but as far as a real restraint goes it fails miserably.

Burglar faking as a maintenance man just planned on ad-libbing it once he got in the door? Was he hoping they ordered room service ahead of time so he would have some napkins on stand by?

There are a lot of crimes and weirdness that go on in hotels. This story doesn't ring true and the reality is probably far far weirder than what we were told.

12. Transmission Posted: May 30, 2012 at 09:15 PM (#4143602)

11 - The story is less odd and suspicious if we assume the woman was threatened. Nothing in the article indicates if the intruder was armed or not. Could be he was armed, wasn't anticipating someone would be there, and improvised.

Or, it could be a two-person scam.

13. Guapo Posted: May 30, 2012 at 09:55 PM (#4143694)

Also, why would he leave the door open when he left? Makes no sense.

14. Morty Causa Posted: May 30, 2012 at 09:55 PM (#4143697)

Hmm, the MO suggests Marv Albert. A religious baseball clown door-to-door thing ploy. Is there an APB out?

15. McCoy Wilfong for Money Posted: May 30, 2012 at 10:09 PM (#4143744)

Most people who are armed don't head into an upscale hotel and up into the floors to break into a hotel room in the hopes of grabbing some quick cash or do-dads.

Secondly, according to woman's story the man told her he worked for the hotel and she let him in. That doesn't sound like an improvise to me.

16. McCoy Wilfong for Money Posted: May 30, 2012 at 10:15 PM (#4143755)

Manrique told police that her attacker knocked on the door and said he was there to fix the toilet. She let him in, and he demanded items in the room. When she refused, he tied her up and stole jewelry, clothing, a notebook computer, credit cards, identification and other items, including dress shoes and a Gucci belt, police said.

Chapman and Manrique met two months ago in Washington, police said. He asked her to meet him in Pittsburgh, and she flew in on Tuesday.

17. God Posted: May 30, 2012 at 10:55 PM (#4143791)

Two months ago, Chapman was in Florida for the entire month. However, six weeks ago the Reds did play a road series in Washington.

18. asinwreck Posted: May 30, 2012 at 11:03 PM (#4143794)

Anyone know where Ramon Castro is tonight?

19. Howie Menckel Posted: May 30, 2012 at 11:27 PM (#4143810)

a male attended the game but was not present at the time of the incident.

I'm sure it's the woman's brother.
anyone got a second guess?

20. Shredder Posted: May 31, 2012 at 12:34 AM (#4143866)

Because it is incredibly hard and virtually impossible to tie someone up with cloth napkins if they are unwilling. Cloth napkins do the trick if the person wants to be tied up but as far as a real restraint goes it fails miserably.

Someone knows WAY too much about tying people up with cloth napkins.

21. zachtoma Posted: May 31, 2012 at 03:10 AM (#4143915)

Lots of weird stuff going on with Aroldis, with the lawsuit against him, the 93 mph speeding incident, and now this. Are we sure he's not some kind of international man of mystery? Maybe some sort of cyborg baseball-playing spy for Cuba? A super fast throwing arm would probably be the easiest baseball skill to engineer right?

22. Lujack Posted: May 31, 2012 at 07:33 AM (#4143935)

She kidnapped herself, man!

23. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: May 31, 2012 at 09:07 AM (#4143980)

Somehow this is Dusty Baker's fault.

24. Ron J Posted: May 31, 2012 at 10:18 AM (#4144033)

Someone knows WAY too much about tying people up with cloth napkins.

Everybody needs a hobby.

25. Neutral Milk Dotel (Dan Lee) Posted: May 31, 2012 at 10:54 AM (#4144077)

I'm sure it's the woman's brother.
anyone got a second guess?

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Detectives interviewed Claudia Manrique, 26, of Silver Spring, Md., until about 8:30 p.m. before releasing her to a man whom they identified as her husband.

Curiouser and curiouser.

26. The District Attorney Posted: May 31, 2012 at 10:58 AM (#4144085)

She kidnapped herself, man!

You human paraquat.

27. McCoy Wilfong for Money Posted: May 31, 2012 at 10:58 AM (#4144086)

Like I said earlier the truth is going to be far weirder than whatever story was concocted at the beginning of this whole thing.

28. Knock on any Iorg Posted: June 01, 2012 at 12:48 AM (#4144911)

The ##### set me up! The ####### ##### set me up!

29. Why Bloody Valdespin? Posted: June 01, 2012 at 04:54 AM (#4144947)

Chapman's special lady friend, an excort, in the parlance of our times, owes money all over town, including to known drug peddlers.

Link

30. The District Attorney Posted: June 21, 2012 at 07:58 PM (#4163057)

Yup:

A Maryland woman who claimed she was robbed in the Downtown hotel room of a Cincinnati Reds pitcher last month has been charged with filing a false police report...

Mr. Chapman told detectives he met the woman in April in the Washington, D.C. area, and she traveled to meet him in different cities.

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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Yahoo: Aroldis Chapman’s Pittsburgh hotel room robbed, woman found bound and crying

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